Monday, September 14, 2009

The Ambassador Quartet

Artist: The Ambassador Quartet
LP: Thank God I Am Free
Song: "I Have the Love of Jesus"
[ listen ]

I went to church in the Seattle suburb of Shoreline yesterday. (Long story, don't ask.) They had refreshments in the basement after the service and I ended up sitting next to Ross—a lively 85-year-old gentleman who mentioned that he'd be traveling by train to Minneapolis in a few weeks. I remarked that some relatives had really enjoyed traveling by train to our family reunion in Bismarck in July, after which he told me about his cross-country train trip in the early 1940s, when he was a serviceman during WWII. He said the train stopped in Fargo, North Dakota and a host of beautiful patriotic girls got on board with a band of horn-players and they handed out pheasant sandwiches to all the servicemen. He told me he would never forget those wonderful women and that those sandwiches were among the most delicious he'd ever had.

As for today's posting... I don't claim to be an expert, but if you're going to have a "quartet," doesn't that mean just 4 people? Anyway, The Ambassador Quartet features Ardell De Berg on guitar, and I've included the LP's liner notes below. Here's a little game: One of the members of The Ambassador Quartet pictured on the front cover is a woman. Can you guess which one?

The album title, THANK GOD I AM FREE, is the
testimony of each member of The Ambassador
Quartet. This experienced group, widely known
in the Middle-West, convey their own deep
religious feeling and personal faith through song
.

There is something about the beautiful outdoors
that can make man aware of his great Creator. It
was this thought that inspired the cover photo,
the setting of which was through the courtesy
of John Stegeman
.

It is the prayer of each quartet member that
this, their third album, will be of spiritual uplift
as well as entertaining
.

3 comments:

C.A. Cubed said...

I'm thinking that back in those days, they might have been a little wary of calling themselves a "sex-tet", especially considering that they had a (albeit cleverly disguised) woman in the group.

Alex said...

that's true... but they could have said "quintet," and people would just assume they didn't count the woman. Or how about "septet"—and then people could assume one of them had recently gone solo or died. Either way would be a little closer to the truth and, as they of all people should know, God doesn't take kindly to liars.

Anonymous said...

Hey, This group goes to my church in George, Iowa. I (used) see then every Sunday. (before I moved away) That is such an old photo. I just happened to google their name and I came to this site.